


xxiii. unwanted

by icymapletree



Series: febuwhump/febufluff 2020 [23]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:15:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22873852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icymapletree/pseuds/icymapletree
Summary: One car, going way over the speed limit, runs a red light and slams into the center of another car that goes tumbling off to the side. Peter feels his heartbeat in his ears, he changes course and swings toward the wreck.Smoke curls up above his head, and he’s digging through the wreckage. It’s all a blur-- he’s blinded by the need to save and protect. He helps a young woman out, who is in hysterics.“Help! My daughter!” she sobs, despite the blood soaking her blouse, “My daughter’s still in there!”
Relationships: Happy Hogan & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: febuwhump/febufluff 2020 [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618837
Comments: 9
Kudos: 108





	xxiii. unwanted

“They’re gonna call me,” Peter whispers to himself, doing a little skip as he heads to the door to his apartment complex.

“They’re gonna call me,” he repeats as he climbs the stairs to the seventh floor. The elevator is broken - as usual - but it won’t harm his spirits. Happy complained about the case being heavy, but he’s never thought that anything felt so light.

“They’re gonna call me,” he says one last time, opening the door to the Parker apartment. May turns her head toward the door, looking away from the vegetables she’s cutting.

Her face softens at the sight of Peter. “Hi honey. Who’s gonna call you?”

“Mr. Stark. Or Happy,” Peter says, walking toward his room.

“That Stark gives me weird vibes. It seems so out of the blue, him coming here.”

“Well, you know I applied, May. He said that he was impressed with me.”

May sighs, using a knife to swipe the onions off the cutting board and into the pan. “I guess. How was upstate?”

Peter swallows and nods, putting his socks into his drawer. “Very upstate-ish.”

“And the other kids?”

“They were nice, yeah. All very smart.”

“I’m sure. If they’re all as smart as you, then that’s a lot of intelligence in one place.”

Peter smiles, shutting his dresser and coming to sit at the kitchen table. “Wow,” he says when May sets down a plate in front of him, “You did good with the food today.”

“Thank you. I’ve been working on some new recipes-- Wait, honey, what happened to your face?”

His brows bounce together. “This guy, uh, his name was Steve. Got mugged on the way here.”

“You didn’t tell me…”

“Didn’ need to. I can hold my own.”

May purses her lips, and gets up to tuck his hair behind his ear. “Promise me you’ll tell me if anything gets to be too much.”

“Promise.”

**x**

“It’s a slow day today for your kind local Spider-Man-- Nice borough Spider-Man? Agh!” Peter holds his head in his hands. “I’ll workshop it.”

Nothing is happening tonight and it’s not for lack of trying. He’s been through Queens, Brooklyn _and_ Manhattan but there’s not much going on. 

There are the smaller crimes here and there, but nothing like a good old bank robbery or jewelry store robbery.

He pulls his phone out of the pocket of his suit, dialing Happy’s phone number. He’s not surprised that there’s no answer. 

“ _You’ve reached the voicemail box of: Happy. Hogan._ ”

This is where Peter gets the brilliant idea to leave Happy voicemails. That way, if Mr. Stark needs him for something, all they have to do is send Tony to him through Happy’s voicemail box. 

“Hi Happy. It’s Peter Parker. I was thinking that you guys might want to keep tabs on me, you know, with all my kind borough Spider-Man antics. Anyway, hope you have a good rest of your day. Sorry for bothering you.”

The voicemails get longer and longer, and Peter can’t help but be a little hurt that Happy doesn’t pick up once.

**x**

It’s another slow night a week later - nothing much happens in the city before the sun peeks over the horizon. There are still no words from Mr. Stark. He did get one text from Happy though, which politely asked Peter to stop texting this number unless it’s an emergency. 

Peter definitely thinks that the dachshund he found wearing a hot dog costume is an emergency. It’s not like anybody wouldn’t want to see that.

He thinks about that weiner dog while swinging his legs over the side of the building. The sun has almost risen, which means that it’s time to head home before May can catch him in his costume or notice that he’s gone.

His apartment complex is only a couple blocks north, just past Mr. Delmar’s bodega. He takes off in that direction, firing off a webline with a _thwip._

Just then, he feels the slightest tingle that develops into a steady thrum on his neck. He turns around, whipping his head in all different directions until he sees it--

One car, going way over the speed limit, runs a red light and slams into the center of another car that goes tumbling off to the side. Peter feels his heartbeat in his ears, he changes course and swings toward the wreck. 

Smoke curls up above his head, and he’s digging through the wreckage. It’s all a blur-- he’s blinded by the need to save and protect. He helps a young woman out, who is in hysterics.

“Help! My daughter!” she sobs, despite the blood soaking her blouse, “My daughter’s still in there!”

Peter mutters some reassurance, and he pulls out the dad who he saw before the little girl. The father reunites with the mother, both of them shaking and waiting. Peter lifts the car to the side and pulls something off of the carseat that the little girl was in. 

His heart drops when he catches sight of her-- bloody and disfigured. Bile rises inside of his throat, and he gently sets the car down, not bothering to deal with police. He knows that the parents know what happened by the way their sobs pierce through the rising sun. 

It’s the first person he’s ever lost during and he’s already dealing with it wrong - leaving the parents to deal with the body wracking grief that will shake them forever. He couldn’t even help take some of the issue off of their shoulders by dealing with the police, because he’s such and _idiot_ , he’s so stupid.

He wants nothing more than to call someone and unpack everything that’s been happening in his head the past few weeks - what can he do better, how to deal with the grief that he doesn’t deserve to feel - he could’ve prevented the accident, he didn’t even know her - but the only people who felt exactly the way he feels right now are either war criminals or dodging his calls.

He knows he signed up for this, to deal with harsh realities because he has a responsibility. He can’t help but think about how much easier this would be with someone to help him.

But he certainly can’t bring May into it - and there’s no Mr. Stark or Happy who would want to help him deal with this. His presence is unwanted around them, if the weeks of near radio silence are anything to go by. 

He’ll have to deal with it on his own, like it’s almost always been.


End file.
